| Thousand Islands Parkway | ||||
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by the St. Lawrence Parks Commision | ||||
| Length: | 40.0 km (24.9 mi) | |||
| History: | Opened 1947 as Highway 2S Renumbered Highway 401 in 1952 Renumbered Highway 2S in 1967/68 Decommissioned September 8, 1970[1] |
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| Major junctions | ||||
| From: | Highway 401 west in Gananoque | |||
| Highway 137 to Thousand Islands Bridge to the United States | ||||
| To: | Highway 401 east near Butternut Bay | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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The Thousand Islands Parkway is a parkway in the Canadian province of Ontario, which extends easterly from an interchange with Highway 401 in Gananoque for approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) to the community of Butternut Bay, in Elizabethtown-Kitley, west of Brockville.
The parkway follows the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, and was formerly designated Highway 2S (for Scenic). It was constructed as the alignment of Highway 401 through the area during the 1930s and 1940s, and was in signed as such between 1952 and 1968, when a new alignment of Highway 401 was completed further to the north. Evidence of its proposed use can be seen today in the wide right-of-way; the unused westbound lanes now serve as a bicycle trail, and twin bridges span two locations along the parkway.
The Thousand Islands Parkway begins at a split with Highway 401 on the outskirts of Gananoque. There is no access from westbound Highway 401 to the parkway nor from westbound on the parkway to eastbound Highway 401. However, immediately east of the split, both highways interchange with the sole remaining portion of Highway 2 under provincial jurisdiction. East of this point the three diverge into the rugged terrain of the Frontenac Arch, a protrusion of the Canadian Shield southward into New York state. In this area, the soil is underlain by layers of Paleozoic limestone and a granite bedrock. The granite often extends above the ground surface as large rock outcroppings. Both layers are prominent in the Jones Creek ravine.
At its midpoint, the parkway interchanges with Highway 137, an extension of Interstate 81 which serves as the Ontario approach to the international Thousand Islands Bridge.
While today only a two-lane road, it was a divided and paved four lane roadway in the early 1940s.[2][3][4]
The St. Lawrence River Road was given the designation of Highway 2S in 1947. This designation remained in place for several years, until the entire route was renumbered as Highway 401 by the end of 1952. Initially, the parkway was intended as the route of Highway 401 between Ganonoque and Brockville. However, when the Department of Highways (DHO) encountered severe local resistance, it was instead decided that a new bypass should be built further inland. This bypass opened on October 11, 1968, at which point the entire parkway once again became Highway 2S.
This designation would also only last a few years. On September 8, 1970, the DHO transferred the jurisdiction over the parkway to the St. Lawrence Parks Commission;[1] it was subsequently renamed as the Thousand Islands Parkway.
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